A Chequered Brilliance

Title: A Chequered Brilliance – The Many Lives of V. K. Krishna Menon

Author: Jairam Ramesh

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2019 (First)

ISBN: 9780670092321

Pages: 725

Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (1896–1974) was born in Kozhikode, Kerala but worked outside the state for all his life. He organised British public opinion in favour of Indian independence for about two decades. Acting as a facilitator and liaison for visiting dignitaries especially Nehru in London, Krishna Menon shot to prominence in the national movement. He had a sharp intellect but a lousy tongue which alienated almost all the people he came into contact with. He had a visceral aversion to the US, but managed to lead the Indian delegation to the UN and to be India's high commissioner to the UK. After he made both the seats too hot to hold him, Nehru appointed him as India's defence minister. He initiated some far-reaching projects to indigenize defence production, but the war with China in 1962 and the miserable defeat which ensued caused a clamour for his removal. Krishna Menon stepped down in 1962 and faded into obscurity after Nehru's death, even though he managed to win elections to the Indian parliament. Menon was one of the friends of Nehru who considered themselves taller in stature than the country. They gave paramount importance to their personal opinions than national interest. That was one of the reasons why Menon’s career ended up disastrously even though India had witnessed very few people of his intellectual calibre among its political class. This book is written by Jairam Ramesh, a stalwart leader of the Congress party which is in opposition at present.

After his education in Chennai, Krishna Menon shifted his arena of operations to London as directed by his mentor Annie Besant. He spent twenty-three years there and became a crony of Nehru from 1935 till his death in 1964. Ramesh notes that he was cantankerous yet charming who had an uncanny ability to make instant enemies. His opportunism is described in detail on more than one occasion. He ditched the Congress Socialist party and sided with Nehru who was by then being seen as Gandhi's successor. Menon was acutely aware of this and there is a definite element of personal ambition in hitching his star to Nehru's bandwagon. He was extremely helpful to his daughter Indira as well. Her first public meeting was arranged by Krishna Menon in 1937 under the guise of supporting the Spanish cause.

Krishna Menon never participated in public protests, demonstrations and agitations in the heat and dust of India and had never been arrested or jailed. The author remarks that independence had come to India largely because of upheavals and mass movements crafted and led by Gandhi at home. Menon had no role whatsoever in this. However he also notes that independence came also because since the mid–1930s, public opinion in Britain itself became more sympathetic to and supportive of the Indian cause. In creating this climate of opinion, Krishna Menon had made significant contributions, perhaps second to none (p.309). Anyhow, Sardar Patel viewed him as a busybody during the partition negotiations.

Menon’s relations with women had been a never-ending source for rumours during his lifetime. It may be remembered that he remained a bachelor all his life. The author keeps a dignified silence on this topic, but drops sufficient hints for the readers to solve the puzzle. Menon’s India League was said to be a one–man, many–women army (p.108) and this very fact antagonized many supporters of Indian independence. Even when he became the envoy of the new Indian republic in the UK, his office courted controversies in good measure. The private secretary to the high commissioner was often referred to as ‘the Queen of India House’. Menon orchestrated her entry into the Indian Foreign Service. The worst part of this aspect of his character was that the enemies were also aware of this weakness. The British intelligence agencies used women agents to get close to Menon and extract information.

Ramesh provides an exhaustive analysis of the ‘Jeeps scandal’ that rocked Menon’s tenure as high commissioner. Large amounts of money were paid to alleged traders in Britain for procuring used Jeeps for the Indian army, who later turned out to be Menon’s close friends. It was also established that Menon’s India League had received financial contributions from them. The problem erupted when the army rejected the vehicle shipments as of poor quality and unusability. Later, Subimal Dutt investigated charges of extravagant spending at the Indian high commission and came out with a scathing indictment. Menon indignantly offered to resign, but Nehru won’t allow him. The British also raised issues of security risk due to the large number of people employed by the High Commission who had solid links to the Communist party. It is amazing that Nehru pardoned all of his offences like a mother does to her child. This was in spite of Nehru’s assessment of Menon in 1951 as “he is not an easy person to get on with. He is highly sensitive, somewhat self–opinionated and tries to do everything himself which no head of mission should do” (p.372). Yet, Menon remained in his position right till the moment he wanted.

This book has been able to show the bubble of delusional self-importance Nehru and Menon attached to India's postures in international fora. Menon had a series of meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou En-Lai over ten days in 1955. They discussed all regional and global issues instead of the burning border dispute between them. Even after China’s forceful occupation of Tibet, the focus of the discussion was on Sino-US relations and how they could be normalised! Ramesh epitomizes Menon’s eight-hour speech in the UN Security Council on the Kashmir issue, which turned out to nothing in the end as the Security Council unanimously voted against India. He fainted at the end of the speech which was a clever ploy to win votes in parliamentary elections scheduled a few weeks later. Menon brazenly pleaded for China's entry into the UN when in fact they had intruded into Indian territory in 1959. He stayed on in the UN even after specifically asked by Nehru to return, which he did only after sixteen days. He wanted to go back to the UN within two days, but this time Nehru restrained him. Right before a few weeks of the Chinese invasion in 1962, Menon was lecturing in the UN on the situation in Papua New Guinea and hair-splitting on Congo's disarmament! The author’s claim that Menon resolved the Korean and Suez crises is just wishful thinking.

Menon’s hypocrisy and opportunism are handled discreetly in this book. He was accused to be a Communist, whereas in fact he maintained a relationship with them that best suited his own purposes. He spoke against the detention of Communists engaged in armed struggle against India immediately after 1947, but felt no compunction in pressurising Nehru to dismiss the first Communist government in Kerala in 1959. He opposed the formation of Kerala state on linguistic basis on the flimsy pretext that it could well end up becoming a Communist citadel. Menon was first introduced into Nehru’s cabinet in 1956 as a minister without portfolio. But he wanted something meaty and substantive instead which Nehru obliged by shifting him to defence. He was also awarded the prestigious Padma Vibhushan while Nehru decorated himself with the Bharat Ratna. Menon’s anti-Americanism did not deter him from seeking medical treatment in the US to remove a clot in the brain in 1961. Menon was a misfortune for the nation till then, but when he stepped in as defence minister, turned into a disaster. He antagonized all three service chiefs and appointed his aides in key positions in the army, sparking rumours of a coup. US President Kennedy informed Nehru that US military assistance during China war was possible only if Menon was eased out of the defence ministry. Krishna Menon was temperamentally ill-suited for the sensitive assignment as defence minister and the country had to pay a heavy price for his personality quirks and work habits.

Many biographies of Menon have been published over the years, but this one is probably the first to be based on his own papers which were made available to the public only in early 2019. Menon was progressive, socialist and a rationalist. However, he was fixated on astrology! This was a new piece of information. The book includes many hypocritical letters between Menon and Nehru who vainly offered to resign their posts while in fact both of them had no inclination to do so. Menon refused to leave the high commissioner's office even when Nehru clearly demanded it by asking him to go on leave. He delayed putting in his papers for one full year while Nehru patiently waited! This makes one wonder at the kind of influence Menon wielded over Nehru. There was strong opinion of him as ‘an unredeemed and ignominious failure’, but the author’s harping on the possibility of a military coup by him is too far-fetched. Personal appreciation of Menon by private individuals and disgruntled overseas groups are touted as his huge diplomatic victories.

This book is a humongous one as his earlier book titled ‘Intertwined Lives’ on P N Haksar, reviewed in this blog on a previous occasion. Lots of verbatim quotes of his letters are reproduced, as well as photographs of notices of India League meetings. This book could have been condensed to about 300 pages if the author had taken the style of a personal narrative rather than journalistic reporting. It is structured like a diary, year-wise. This book is easily readable but this diary format diminishes its potential for an enjoyable reading experience.

The book is strongly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star